D-Day Veterans Return to Normandy, 70 Years Later [PHOTOS]

AP Images Seventy years ago, they were young men thrust into one of the most significant events of the twentieth century. Now in their late 80s and early 90s, the veterans of D-Day are living connections to the military gambit that helped liberate Europe from fascism and set the stage for the conclusion of the most destructive conflict in human history.

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This 88 year-old veteran, pictured during a re-enactment of a paratrooper landing near Normandy, participated in a glider-borne attack on German artillery positions during the D-Day invasion.

Chris Helgren/Reuters

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One British veteran arrived in France much the same way he did seventy years ago: by parachute.

Chris Helgren/Reuters

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American Jim Martin of the 101st Airborne arrived by parachute too.

Thibault Camus/AP Images

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French commando Leon Gautier, now 91, landed at the beach at Ouistreham on June 6, 1944.

Christian Hartmann/Reuters

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Many of the Allied soldiers who stormed the beaches didn't survive the invasion. Half of Roland Chaisson's squad was killed before they made landfall. At left is his photo as a 19-year-old corporal the year of the D-Day invasion; at right is a photo of him taken in Louisiana this week.

Gerald Herbert/AP Images

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This 88-year old veteran from Connecticut paid his respects to Americans killed in the invasion at a cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer.

Regis Duvignau/Reuters

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Australian veterans pay their respects to their country's D-Day dead.

Reuters

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D-Day veterans attend a ceremony in Caen on June 4th. In total, 3,000 soldiers who took part in the invasion are returning to the Normandy coast for the 70th anniversary.

Christian Hartmann/Reuters

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A British D-Day veteran at a town along the Normandy coast earlier this week.

Regis Duvignau/Reuters

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The presidents of the U.S. and France appeared with veterans before before the June 6th commemorations.

Regis Duvignau/Reuters

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President Obama greeted veterans earlier in the day as well.

Pascal Rossignol/AP Images

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Seventy years ago, this veteran from Massachusetts was storming the beach at Normandy.

Thibault Camus/AP Images

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Veterans from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island in Normandy this week. All are in their late 80s and early 90s. By the time the next major D-Day commemoration comes around, there will be even fewer veterans from the invasion still alive, and a connection to one of the most consequential events in modern history will be lost.